Friday, April 13, 2018

Types of Lung Cancer Surgery

Board-certified in both General and Cardiothoracic surgery, Dr. Murali Macherla treats patients at Arizona Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons in Phoenix. Dr. Murali Macherla offers particular expertise in Thoracic procedures and is experienced in the treatment of lung cancer.

Surgical treatment of lung cancer typically involves removal of the cancer as well as some to all of the surrounding lung. The most common procedure is the lobectomy, which requires the surgeon to remove the lobe that contains the tumor. In some cases, there may be a need for a sleeve lobectomy, in which the surgeon removes part of the primary bronchus that connects to the affected lung. A sleeve lobectomy may be an appropriate replacement for a pneumonectomy, which is removal of the entire lung. The latter procedure usually only occurs if a patient's cancer is located at the center of the lung or cannot be fully excised through lobectomy.

Patients who do not require removal of the entire lung or even an entire lobe may undergo a segmentectomy, in which the surgeon excises one to four segments of the three to five that make up an individual lung. Even less tissue is removed in a procedure known as wedge resection, which only requires the surgeon to excise a small portion of the tissue surrounding the tumor.